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“They mention snow on the TV and radio, and that was it. It’s just all at once. It’s been nonstop since we opened up,” Cross said.

Salt, sand and shovels are prominently featured in the front of Maine Hardware in Portland. Customers are happy they could wait until after Christmas to start stocking up.

“I don’t mind it, and I appreciate the fact that the later we get started, the sooner it’ll be gone,” said Matt Purington of Portland.

Chris Peterman of South Portland was preparing to keep the sidewalk in front of his restaurant clear during the storm.

“I like winter now,” Peterman said. “That’ll be a different story probably in about two or three months when it’s really, really winter.”

Last year, Sanford hit the snow jackpot. Matthew Hill, the city’s director of public works, said Sanford has a unique location when it comes to winter weather.

“It is close to the coast. We feel like we get some of that moisture off the seacoast, but we’re far enough away where we don’t get some of the warmer temperatures that perhaps thaw out some of the coastal communities,” Hill said.

He said the snow’s late arrival this year has given his department the time and money to do some long-overdue facility repairs.

“It does help. We’ve really taken advantage of not having snow just yet and taken that time and investment, and put it into the garage here for safety and efficiency optimizations,” Hill said.

All of the public works crews are on standby, expecting to be called into work early Tuesday morning.